shawnwhy's review against another edition
5.0
oh man, this is really great. it is like following conrad into the rover of madness. the people and culture is very interestingly dscribed and there is this sense of danget coming from all around, its a bit of hellish landscape and pre-collaps soviet union corruprtion, very very enjoyable journey
ruthie_the_librarian's review against another edition
1.0
Read for my WI book group (None of us liked it...)
I feel like I need a prize for having actually finished this book. There were many times I threw it down in disgust and felt I couldn't carry on. There's good historical research but that's about the most positive thing I have to say.
The first 80+ pages are basically people telling Tim Butcher not to do the journey, and not just any people, these are people who know the country and know what he's letting himself in for. Does he listen to them? No. He just blindly carries on, expecting help, and food, and water, and motorbikes from people that, I felt, had much more important things to be doing, such as Aid organisations, the UN, missionary workers etc. So, he goes against all advice to make this historic journey, emulating Stanley (who wasn't the nicest of blokes...) for what? I was never clear about why he was doing this. For fame? For a book deal? He certainly didn't help the country in any way. He didn't describe it particularly well. He just used the people, as others have used them over the years. Perhaps he is a nice and good man, but I'm afraid that wasn't the impression I came away with from reading this.
I was frustrated by the photos (where are all the people he meets and helps?) and the descriptions (severely lacking) and the real insights into those he speaks with. It felt cold and disconnected. I wanted to know more, and all I was given was more whining about the wait for a boat.
My ultimate throw-the-book moment came at Page 192, when Mr Butcher has just been speaking about an Italian aid worker who is very sick, and in the same paragraph speaks about all the bloody massacres in the country and how the bodies of the dead were thrown into the river. He then writes, in the next sentence, ''Most frustrating for me was the utter collapse of the ferry system...''!!!!! What an utter lack of compassion & understanding! This country, tormented by fighting, and his big complaint is the lack of a boat to take him where he wants to go?!
I continued to read in the hope that things would get better but, sadly, they didn't. When Mr Butcher gets a little ill he then gives up on the final part of his journey and takes a UN helicopter to complete the route. My respect was all used up at this point, and thank goodness the story ended soon after.
I can't believe how many people rate this book so highly. I wonder if everyone who says they read it actually made it all the way through. Award winning bestseller? Not for me. Disappointing, frustrating, and an empty, hollow book.
I feel like I need a prize for having actually finished this book. There were many times I threw it down in disgust and felt I couldn't carry on. There's good historical research but that's about the most positive thing I have to say.
The first 80+ pages are basically people telling Tim Butcher not to do the journey, and not just any people, these are people who know the country and know what he's letting himself in for. Does he listen to them? No. He just blindly carries on, expecting help, and food, and water, and motorbikes from people that, I felt, had much more important things to be doing, such as Aid organisations, the UN, missionary workers etc. So, he goes against all advice to make this historic journey, emulating Stanley (who wasn't the nicest of blokes...) for what? I was never clear about why he was doing this. For fame? For a book deal? He certainly didn't help the country in any way. He didn't describe it particularly well. He just used the people, as others have used them over the years. Perhaps he is a nice and good man, but I'm afraid that wasn't the impression I came away with from reading this.
I was frustrated by the photos (where are all the people he meets and helps?) and the descriptions (severely lacking) and the real insights into those he speaks with. It felt cold and disconnected. I wanted to know more, and all I was given was more whining about the wait for a boat.
My ultimate throw-the-book moment came at Page 192, when Mr Butcher has just been speaking about an Italian aid worker who is very sick, and in the same paragraph speaks about all the bloody massacres in the country and how the bodies of the dead were thrown into the river. He then writes, in the next sentence, ''Most frustrating for me was the utter collapse of the ferry system...''!!!!! What an utter lack of compassion & understanding! This country, tormented by fighting, and his big complaint is the lack of a boat to take him where he wants to go?!
I continued to read in the hope that things would get better but, sadly, they didn't. When Mr Butcher gets a little ill he then gives up on the final part of his journey and takes a UN helicopter to complete the route. My respect was all used up at this point, and thank goodness the story ended soon after.
I can't believe how many people rate this book so highly. I wonder if everyone who says they read it actually made it all the way through. Award winning bestseller? Not for me. Disappointing, frustrating, and an empty, hollow book.
bibliobethreads's review against another edition
I loved the history told by the author in this book, and felt horrified about some of the tales. However, I did feel a bit cheated by the fact that he relied on a lot of the locals (endangering them in the process) to complete his journey. Yes, I understand it was necessary but it felt like he was just being ferried along at points without doing any "real" work of his own.
katyl's review against another edition
4.0
Blood River, Tim Butcher's account of his travelling the Congo river in a 21st century recreation of Stanley's journey, has plenty of interest. There is a brief history of the Congo; an introduction to Stanley's journey & its legacy; a brief examination of the implications of colonialism; an astonishing & gruelling personal journey; & vignettes of people he meets during that journey.
Tim's outrage at so many people living lives that could be snuffed out so easily (from disease, violence, the inability to travel safely) in a way we don't expect for ourselves in the West is clear, as is his anger at the waste of talent, energy & material resources & the way in which the land & people have been exploited by others. There is a great deal of sadness; what has become of decent, generous Benoit, trying to make a life with all the odds stacked against him? What of the 4-year-old whose father was so desperate that he be given the chance of a better life that he was prepared to take his chances & give him to someone he had only just met? I imagine that in the face of such suffering Tim's personal privations - not that I could have lain on the dirty, smelly floor of a boat for a single night, taken my chances with malaria, or been brave enough to face guns along the way - became considerably less significant than they would otherwise have been.
But the book remains a good read because it has a rollicking story of a dangerous undertaking at its heart. Clearly the reader knows the outcome, but at the outset Tim didn't, & the anxiety he felt is evident. It also has very vivid images among which are the beauty of the lush green along the river, the rust & decay of boats & buildings from a bygone age, & the rainforest reclaiming the railway tracks; the latter a serving as a metaphor for the journey into the past made by the country post-independence. One thing I would have liked was more, & better photos. Ultimately what will stay with me is the call for something better for people whose lives we have too long considered to be disposable.
Tim's outrage at so many people living lives that could be snuffed out so easily (from disease, violence, the inability to travel safely) in a way we don't expect for ourselves in the West is clear, as is his anger at the waste of talent, energy & material resources & the way in which the land & people have been exploited by others. There is a great deal of sadness; what has become of decent, generous Benoit, trying to make a life with all the odds stacked against him? What of the 4-year-old whose father was so desperate that he be given the chance of a better life that he was prepared to take his chances & give him to someone he had only just met? I imagine that in the face of such suffering Tim's personal privations - not that I could have lain on the dirty, smelly floor of a boat for a single night, taken my chances with malaria, or been brave enough to face guns along the way - became considerably less significant than they would otherwise have been.
But the book remains a good read because it has a rollicking story of a dangerous undertaking at its heart. Clearly the reader knows the outcome, but at the outset Tim didn't, & the anxiety he felt is evident. It also has very vivid images among which are the beauty of the lush green along the river, the rust & decay of boats & buildings from a bygone age, & the rainforest reclaiming the railway tracks; the latter a serving as a metaphor for the journey into the past made by the country post-independence. One thing I would have liked was more, & better photos. Ultimately what will stay with me is the call for something better for people whose lives we have too long considered to be disposable.
lynch626's review against another edition
4.0
My first book of 2017!
In the early 2000's, Tim Butcher, an English journalist, attempts to retrace the route of Henry Morton Stanley's 1870 expedition through the Congo to find one Dr. Livingstone. He all but succeeds. I wanted to read this to hear about the Congolese natives, the primitive villages, the beautiful but treacherous landscape, to maybe inspire myself to pursue a similar journey one day... That side of the story was interesting, but what I didn't anticipate was all of the historical background information Butcher gives us about the Congo. I have read The Poisonwood Bible & I have Heart of Darkness on my to-read list (both of which Butcher frequently references), but I realized I had never really thought about what a tumultuous history the Congo has had. It is basically a story of European colonialization gone very, very wrong. In order to harvest natural resources and mine metals & gems, cities & infrastructure were built up in towns like Kinshasa & Kisangani in the mid-twentieth century; but as soon as the Belgians were finished with the Congo, they let everything deteriorate and the country has basically been in a state of ruin and civil war ever since.
I also realized there are quite a few other American and British pop cultures references to the Congo that I hadn't really paid much attention to previously:
-1974 Rumble in the Jungle (boxing match)
-The African Queen (Humphrey Bogart & Katherine Hepburn)
-The Jungle Book (newest 2016 movie)
Quote
"As long as I know I've reduced all the risk that is in my power to reduce, then I am prepared to accept this secondary type of risk as an occupational hazard." (a good way to approach the dangers of traveling)
In the early 2000's, Tim Butcher, an English journalist, attempts to retrace the route of Henry Morton Stanley's 1870 expedition through the Congo to find one Dr. Livingstone. He all but succeeds. I wanted to read this to hear about the Congolese natives, the primitive villages, the beautiful but treacherous landscape, to maybe inspire myself to pursue a similar journey one day... That side of the story was interesting, but what I didn't anticipate was all of the historical background information Butcher gives us about the Congo. I have read The Poisonwood Bible & I have Heart of Darkness on my to-read list (both of which Butcher frequently references), but I realized I had never really thought about what a tumultuous history the Congo has had. It is basically a story of European colonialization gone very, very wrong. In order to harvest natural resources and mine metals & gems, cities & infrastructure were built up in towns like Kinshasa & Kisangani in the mid-twentieth century; but as soon as the Belgians were finished with the Congo, they let everything deteriorate and the country has basically been in a state of ruin and civil war ever since.
I also realized there are quite a few other American and British pop cultures references to the Congo that I hadn't really paid much attention to previously:
-1974 Rumble in the Jungle (boxing match)
-The African Queen (Humphrey Bogart & Katherine Hepburn)
-The Jungle Book (newest 2016 movie)
Quote
"As long as I know I've reduced all the risk that is in my power to reduce, then I am prepared to accept this secondary type of risk as an occupational hazard." (a good way to approach the dangers of traveling)
bobbo49's review against another edition
4.0
Butcher, a journalist with international credentials, decided to retrace Stanley's route down the Congo River in the mid-2000s. This memoir of the journey is filled with the details of that death-defying journey, but more importantly provides a vivid insight into post-colonial central Africa, reflecting the descent into chaos that has marked so much of the past 50 years. The decaying remnants of European exploitation have been replaced by virtually complete lawlessness throughout the country, while the few economic and political elites continued to pillage the nation's natural resources in much the same manner as the white colonizers. A remarkable voyage for Butcher is a sad reflection of the state of much of central Africa today.
doc_j_lock's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Follow Tim as he journeys down the Congo.
lauraschwemm's review against another edition
4.0
I can name most of the countries (and their capitals) of Africa, but my knowledge ends there. Butcher's book was engaging, frightening, stressful, sad. There are no simple explanations, no easy solutions, but the world must pay attention to the African continent.
I definitely need to re-read The Poisonwood Bible , and I need to read Conrad's Heart of Darkness (finally).
I definitely need to re-read The Poisonwood Bible , and I need to read Conrad's Heart of Darkness (finally).